


Promposal

by Arithanas



Category: Calvin & Hobbes
Genre: F/M, Prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 18:33:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17048417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arithanas/pseuds/Arithanas
Summary: On how Calvin proposed Susie Derkins to prom.





	Promposal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BelaBoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelaBoo/gifts).



> Many thanks to Karios for the careful beta work.

The air was crisp and cold. Calvin, protected from the harsh weather by his letterman jacket, inhaled the winter air with glee. Next to him, Susie Derkins, bundled up in mittens, a scarf and a wool coat, walked carefully in sensible knee-high warm boots. The chilly wind made her short hair brush her red cheeks and Calvin smiled.

“I think we might have a blizzard,” Calvin predicted, looking at the heavy clouds above his head. The swirling wind swatted his long hair against his face.

“You are not planning to sculpt an army of snowmen this year, are you?”

Calvin fixed his eyes on the road. He was, in fact, planning to do another of his winter installations, but last year the neighborhood committee hadn't appreciated his efforts nor seen the true value of his work. Those people were not ready to discern between artistic erotica and consumeristic porn. Hobbes was right, this city was getting small for his spirit.

“I might, but I refuse to put my work in the backyard,” Calvin kicked a pebble with a wicked smile, “What’s the use of art if the world doesn’t get to see it?”

“What’s the use of a house,” Susie replied with alacrity, “if you are to enslave yourself to a bourgeois morality?”

“Exac…” Calvin started and then he noticed she was making fun of his ideas: “Hey, Miss Smartmouth! Don’t mock my opinions that way.”

“You are seventeen,” Susie replied with a wide, sardonic smile. “You don’t have opinions, yet. You barely have stray ideas.”

“And who authorized you to have opinions, but not me?”

“Puberty. Any problem with that, boy?”

Calvin scoffed. Lately, everything came down to that minimal biological factor. Because her gender made Susie proud and he was kind of proud to be Susie’s sweetheart, he let it slide. In a year or two, that topic would be spent, he was sure, and then they could move on to more interesting issues.

“Do I need to ask you to go with me to the prom?” Calvin asked, crossing his arms behind his head. “Because if I have to, chances are we are not going to partake in the celebration.”

Susie stopped. Calvin didn’t like the way she tilted her head or the way she pushed her shoulders back.

“Now, listen to me, Calvin,” Susie started, pushing her books against his chest. “I have a wonderful peach dress I got on sale last spring clearance. On sale!”

Calvin tried to ask what was the relevance of the sale, but Susie wouldn’t have it. She pushed her hand flat against the books he was holding now.

“A professional will do my make-up for the first time,” Susie announced and she was deadly serious about it, “and nylon stockings I choose and pay for myself, too!”

Calvin committed the mistake of asking for a turn to speak by rising his hand like they do at school. Susie pushed him again. Calvin felt his heel touch the fence around Ms. Jenkins's garden, another push like that and he would end up in the bushes.

“Shut up and listen,” Susie continued, advancing on him and poking the books again. “You won’t ruin my first prom with your iconoclastic disregard for the rules. This won’t be like Rosalyn’s wedding, do you hear me?”

“It was fun!” Calvin smiled because somehow, the details didn't matter  now. He and Susie ended up splashing the bride and groom with the contents of a punch bowl.

“No, it wasn’t!”

There was no way to win with Miss Derkins.

Calvin took a deep breath and looked at her. Part of him wanted to tease her and the other part of him wanted to see her all made up with her peach-colored dress and her nylon stockings. Most of all, he didn’t want to see her with someone else decked out in all the accouterments already mentioned.

“We are going to prom,” Calvin said, offering her her books back. “I’m not asking you, so don’t bother to reply.”

Susie took her books with a strange look.

“I’m going to pick you up at six,” Calvin said, looking at her as if he was daring her to challenge him. “I’ll bring you those flowers in a fancy box.”

“No, you won’t!”

“Yes, I will,” Calvin shot her a lazy smile. “I just haven’t decided if I want to buy you hydrangeas or orchids!”

“How dare you!” Susie was outraged, “Red roses are the best choice!”

“Oh, yes?” Calvin was enjoying yanking her chain so much, “That’s it? If red roses are what you want then red roses are what I’ll bring! And you’ll have to pose for pictures!”

“You’ll have to, too!”

“Yes, but I'll only be doing it to spite you!”

Susie glared at him, holding her books close. Something wasn’t working here, but she was getting what she wanted. She took a deep breath.

“Don’t you even dare to appear without a nice tie, moron!” Susie started to walk again.

“Of course I won’t!” Calvin followed her. “I already know what color your dress is!”

“And you’ll cut that mop!”

“Of course I won’t,” Calvin had a bit of a shine for Susie, but his affection had its limits. There was no way he would return to his times of spiky hair. “You can count yourself lucky if I choose to put it in a ponytail.”

“At the very least you’ll wear cologne!” Susie was not willing to cede the least bit of ground.

“Next thing you’ll want is for me to take a bath!”

“Ugh, you can’t go to the prom smelling like a gym!”

“That’s what showers are for, genius!” Calvin protested, shoving both hands deep inside his jeans.

Susie took a deep breath and smiled. Calvin felt his knees go weak because, in spite of her being so obnoxious, she was also kind of pretty. He didn’t want to disappoint her ever; that’s why he would fulfill her wishes this time and the reason why he had never partnered with her again at school. Because she was his oldest friend and the smartest girl he had ever seen.

“A shower is acceptable,” Susie said finally when they reached her driveway.

“Good.”

Susie looked at the door of her house and then at the strapping guy by her side. Calvin was taken by surprise when Susie took him by the lapels and forced him down to her size to kiss him on the lips. It was very chaste, but Calvin’s heart pounded in his chest harder than the school band’s drum.

“At six,” Susie said and bit her lip, “don’t be late!”

“No, you're the one who'd better not be late,” Calvin replied with a smile. “I won’t wait for you for more than twenty minutes.”

“Oh my, aren’t you Mister Generous?”

With those words, Susie rushed into her house. Her heels drumming a cheerful gavotte against the pavement. Calvin stood in place, watching until the door closed behind her. The aroma of her hand lotion lingered on his jacket.

Calvin walked slowly to his own house, reliving the kiss in his mind. He used his key to let himself in and pushed the door open, Mom should be home after work, but in the weekdays, it was Calvin’s duty to keep the front door locked since he was the only one using it.

Mom was in the kitchen, grilling sandwiches and cooking dinner. Years had given her a silver streak over her right temple. When the housing bubble burst, Mom returned to the daily grind, a thing she haden’t done since Calvin was born. 

“Hey, mom,” Calvin called out before jumping to sit in the counter. “How was your day?”

“Same old, same old,” she replied, putting two grilled cheese sandwiches in a dish. “How was yours?”

“As well as one can expect in this capitalist exploitative society,” Calvin replied with a smile. Her mother laughed as she put the dish in his hands. It made Calvin feel like everything was normal. “May I have another?”

“Another? It will spoil your appetite.”

“Don’t worry about my appetite, mom,” Calvin munched his sandwich as he speak. “Couch made us do double combined drills because everyone is a klutz. I can’t believe my words, but I miss Moe.”

Mom chuckled and put another sandwich in the grill.

“So…” She asked with a small smile. “Did you pop the question?”

“Susie is going going to take me to the prom,” Calvin said, nonchalantly. “She’ll be here by six with a limo.”

“I was born in the morning, kid,” Mom said, sliding the hot sandwich into his dish, “but it wasn’t this morning.”

“Can you drive me to the florist?” Calvin conceded, skipping from the counter with his dish. Mom was still sharp. “Susie is wearing a peach colored dress…”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Mom agreed, turning her attention to the pots. “Don’t forget to bring that dish down for dinner!”

“I won’t!” Calvin promised rushin up the stairs.

The door of his room made a small sound when he reached the top floor. Hobbes had become more elusive and secretive with the years and he was still his best friend. 

“Hobbes!” he said, opening the bedroom room. “Did you hear the news?”

“Did I hear the news?” Hobbes was sitting in the bed, left leg crossed over the right, shaking his tail like it was a cigar. “I saw you getting smooched in the sidewalk.”

“That was something, wasn’t it?” Calvin sat in the bed, the dish of the sandwich between them. “Susie Derkins kissed me.”

“Atta, boy,” Hobbes messed Calvin’s hair. “Were we fresh out of tuna?”

The first snowflakes danced against the window, inside a boy and his tiger shared a sandwich and the world spinned as it has done since the beginning of time.


End file.
